This chapter discusses the aggregate efforts for global public goods. Global public goods requiring aggregate efforts are particularly susceptible to free riding. This means that success depends on ...
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This chapter discusses the aggregate efforts for global public goods. Global public goods requiring aggregate efforts are particularly susceptible to free riding. This means that success depends on the efforts of all countries regardless of whether a country is incapable of helping or the strongest country is capable to doing. Global public goods likewise depend on the total efforts of all countries. Presently, global climate change mitigation is the most important global public good that requires aggregate efforts especially in the reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. If any country were able to reduce it then whole countries would benefit, but not at the same levels and amounts.Less

Aggregate efforts: global public goods that depend on the combined efforts of all states

Scott Barrett

Published in print: 2007-07-26

This chapter discusses the aggregate efforts for global public goods. Global public goods requiring aggregate efforts are particularly susceptible to free riding. This means that success depends on the efforts of all countries regardless of whether a country is incapable of helping or the strongest country is capable to doing. Global public goods likewise depend on the total efforts of all countries. Presently, global climate change mitigation is the most important global public good that requires aggregate efforts especially in the reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. If any country were able to reduce it then whole countries would benefit, but not at the same levels and amounts.

The politics, rules, and institutions of cooperation among nations have not kept up with the demands from global citizens for changes in the global political order. Whether norms and policies can ...
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The politics, rules, and institutions of cooperation among nations have not kept up with the demands from global citizens for changes in the global political order. Whether norms and policies can make the global politics of managing the global economy more effective, more legitimate, and more responsive to the needs of the bottom half of the world’s population, for whom life remains harsh, remains to be seen. There is some cause for optimism, however: citizens everywhere are becoming more aware of and active in seeking changes in the global norms and rules that could make the global system and the global economy fairer-in processes if not outcomes-and less environmentally harmful.Less

Nancy BirdsallChristian MeyerAlexis Sowa

Published in print: 2014-09-04

The politics, rules, and institutions of cooperation among nations have not kept up with the demands from global citizens for changes in the global political order. Whether norms and policies can make the global politics of managing the global economy more effective, more legitimate, and more responsive to the needs of the bottom half of the world’s population, for whom life remains harsh, remains to be seen. There is some cause for optimism, however: citizens everywhere are becoming more aware of and active in seeking changes in the global norms and rules that could make the global system and the global economy fairer-in processes if not outcomes-and less environmentally harmful.

Substantial progress in the fight against extreme poverty was made in the past two decades. But the slowdown in global economic growth and significant increases in income inequality in many developed ...
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Substantial progress in the fight against extreme poverty was made in the past two decades. But the slowdown in global economic growth and significant increases in income inequality in many developed and developing countries raise serious concerns about the continuation of this trend into the twenty-first century. The time has come to think seriously about how improvements in official global governance, coupled with and reenforced by rising activism of “global citizens,” can lead to welfare-enhancing and more equitable results for global citizens through better national and international policies. This book examines the factors that are most likely to facilitate the process of beneficial economic growth in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. It shows that the legacies of the 2008-9 crisis-high unemployment, massive excess capacity, and high levels of debt-are likely to reduce the standard of living of millions of people in many countries over a long period of adjustment and that fluctuations in international trade, financial markets, and commodity prices, as well as the tendency of institutions at both the national and international level to favor the interests of the better-off and more powerful, pose substantial risks for citizens of all countries. The chapters on the future of economic, human capital and population, international trade, international finance, natural resources and climate change, and global economic governance and their policy implications are intended to stimulate public interest and facilitate the exchange of ideas and policy dialogue.Less

Towards a Better Global Economy : Policy Implications for Citizens Worldwide in the 21st Century

Published in print: 2014-09-04

Substantial progress in the fight against extreme poverty was made in the past two decades. But the slowdown in global economic growth and significant increases in income inequality in many developed and developing countries raise serious concerns about the continuation of this trend into the twenty-first century. The time has come to think seriously about how improvements in official global governance, coupled with and reenforced by rising activism of “global citizens,” can lead to welfare-enhancing and more equitable results for global citizens through better national and international policies. This book examines the factors that are most likely to facilitate the process of beneficial economic growth in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. It shows that the legacies of the 2008-9 crisis-high unemployment, massive excess capacity, and high levels of debt-are likely to reduce the standard of living of millions of people in many countries over a long period of adjustment and that fluctuations in international trade, financial markets, and commodity prices, as well as the tendency of institutions at both the national and international level to favor the interests of the better-off and more powerful, pose substantial risks for citizens of all countries. The chapters on the future of economic, human capital and population, international trade, international finance, natural resources and climate change, and global economic governance and their policy implications are intended to stimulate public interest and facilitate the exchange of ideas and policy dialogue.